JK Govt formulates Rules for ‘outstanding sportspersons’: Farooq Khan

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir Government has issued Jammu and Kashmir Appointment of Outstanding Sportspersons Rules, 2022 through a notification by the General Administration Department. In a press conference held today, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor and Vice Chairperson JK Sports Council, Farooq Khan formally announced the new Rules, which have been framed under the aegis of Lieutenant Governor and Chairperson JKSC, Manoj Sinha. Under the Rules, outstanding sportspersons, holding domicile of J&K, would be eligible to be appointed against gazetted (Level 8) and other non gazetted posts. Detailed grading system has been mentioned in the notification which would help rank sportspersons applying under the quota. Advisor informed that sportspersons from 44 recognized sports would be considered under the rules. Besides, 5 outstanding sportspersons would be appointed at gazetted posts, while another 25 would be appointed to non-gazetted posts every year, he added. All backlogs under this quota, since 2014,would also be cleared, he clarified. Moreover, the gazetted officers would be given one ‘out of turn’ promotion, while the non-gazetted officers would be given two ‘out of turn promotions’ throughout their service career. They are also eligible for 5 special salary increments throughout their career. It was informed by the Advisor that selection under the rules would be done by a high level committee headed by Chief Secretary and consisting of Home Secretary, Secretary Youth Services and Sports, Secretary GAD and Secretary Sports Council. Advisor hailed the rules and said that through the rules, a framework has been established in which sports persons with outstanding achievements would be ranked objectively thereby eliminating chance of favouritism or prejudice. Farooq Khan termed the rules as “incentive, not welfare” and added, “it is our way of acknowledging sports talent and their achievements”. ‘Sportspersons would be able to submit applications to the JK Sports Council which would forward the cases to the high level committee. The committee is permanent in nature and would verify and approve the appropriate cases within 3 months period, preferably around the month of March’, informed the Advisor. Olympics, Winter Olympics as well as Paralympics have been given the greatest weightage under the selection criteria. Such Olympians can score a maximum 60 marks, (including participation and winning medals). Mere one-time participation accounts for 46 marks under the rules. Maximum marks have been set as 100. Similar marking system has been formulated for other national and international sports events like Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cups, World University Games, International Cricket Matches, National Sports Championships, Inter-Zonal Championships, Senior National Championships etc under the rules. For gazetted posts, minimum education qualification has been set as Graduation with only exception for Olympics medallists for whom the criteria has been set as class 12 or above. Advisor said that government is trying to incentivize and promote sports culture in J&K through such measures. ‘A number of sports infrastructure projects have been completed and many others are nearing completion here. Every district has at least one indoor sports stadium for encouraging participation in sports, he added. The government is establishing state of the art sports stadia all over J&K. The football stadium at Parade Ground Jammu is also about to complete, informed the Advisor. While answering questions by the mediapersons, Advisor informed that the government is working to inculcate sports culture at village level and has already ensured that each panchayat has one sports ground and minimum possible equipment. Besides, grant of Rs 25 thousand per panchayat has already been given in this regard, he told. He also assured of setting up an indoor sports facility at Jagti and other sports facilities at Purkhoo and Muthi camps at Jammu. Secretary J&K Sports Council, Nuzhat Gul, was also present in the press conference.